Wednesday, 9 May 2012

Our efforts are those of men prone to disaster;
our efforts are like those of the Trojans.
We just begin to get somewhere,
gain a little confidence,
grow almost bold and hopeful,
when something always comes up to stop us:
Achilles leaps out of the trench in front of us
and terrifies us with his violent shouting.
Our efforts are like those of the Trojans.
We think we’ll change our luck
by being resolute and daring,
so we move outside ready to fight.
But when the great crisis comes,
our boldness and resolution vanish;
our spirit falters, paralyzed,
and we scurry around the walls
trying to save ourselves by running away.
Yet we’re sure to fail. Up there,
high on the walls, the dirge has already begun.
They’re mourning the memory, the aura of our days.Priam and Hecuba mourn for us bitterly.

Well, Tom, there’s content and then there’s content. The Cavafy poem strikes deep. In the van Gronigen drawing the woman’s hands seem to be wringing out grief. Her head turns away, ‘mourning the memory,’ the eyes hollow and mouth gone slack at the horror of witnessing the destruction of her home, and a life. Timeless. All too timeless.Cavafy brings to mind Alexandria and Durrell and his quartet of stories about that city.

A beautiful post and yes, I do think these are more than embers. I think we keep thinking we will be different this time or next time or the time after that. A kind of strange psyche in our DNA that runs so deep. I love the artwork, esp. the woman mourning. Blessed are those who mourn . . . But . . .I know they won't be comforted.

For instance, the reason why God heard Abraham's prayer, according to Genesis, was that Abraham got down in the mud and groveled. That kind of prayer could only appeal to a Big Bad Boss God, who only wants to hear prayers that come with an implicit "Let me be your bitch, Daddy". That seems... well, kind of weak, from just about any viewpoint.

I understand that every religion seems to need some kind of Ultimate Book to Apply to All Cases. But still. That's the trouble with all religions. Not much room in any of them for the open mind.

The "that's all she wrote" element in anybody's "final" version of the Book of Historical Knowledge, Rules & Regulations always hints of a need to establish a VERSION (semblance) of order, without the accompanying admission that this is merely SOMEBODY's version, codified for SOMEBODY's purposes.